10-Year-Old Japanese Girl Becomes the Youngest Professional Go Player in the World

Sumire Nakamura is now set to become the youngest Japanese Go player in history when she makes her official debut as a professional on April 1st.

Nakamura, who will turn 10 in march, will hold the record as the youngest professional Go player when she starts off her career on April 1st. She will take the record from the previous holder, Rina Fujisawa, who became a professional player in 2010 at the age of 11, according to Reuters.

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The 9-year-old player who attends primary school in Osaka, demonstrated her skill in the ancient board game invented in China some 2,500 years ago during a match in front of the media on Saturday in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

Nakamura played against 29-year-old Yuta Iyama, the title holder of five of the seven major Go competitions award in Japan.

The primary school student was presented to the media by her father Shinya, a ninth-degree professional Go player as well as a national champion in 1998, The Guardian reported.

“I feel happy when I win,” she said. “I want to win a title while I am in junior high school.”

Shinya, while speaking to the media, expressed how surprised he was at Sumire’s quick climb to becoming a professional Go player, considering that she only started playing the board game when she was three.

“I didn’t expect she will be professional this soon,” her father said. “I think she was able to achieve this thanks to teachers who have taught her how to play Go and people that have supported her.”